The Quiet One
by Nim. L. Blue
Summary: Another Baby Irken Fic. Annoyingly cute yet touching.
1. Default Chapter

Invader Zim is owned by their respected owners. I had started this fic two years ago, I stopped because in the new season of Invader Zim, Zim had become even more moronic then in the first season and it made this fic even more unbelievable. Actually the whole Irkan race is occ, but oh well. The first 8 chapters are gonna be kinda shoddy because I was to lazy to completely rewrite the whole thing to make the quality any better. I'm changing a lot of the stuff around especially the parts with Zim but he will still be very out of character but he'll still be Zim...just parental.  
  
Prolog: Every 25 Earth years, Irk celebrates the end of emperoress Xio's rule over Irk and the new rule of the Tallest. This holiday was called Nioxina. Every Irken comes back to the home planet to feast, wiggly their antennas, and scary monkey dances around primitive bon fires for a week. Everyone forgets the stupid acts of other Irkens, even the Tallest forgive Zim for messing up Impending Doom I, and almost destroying their home planet, and destroying the half the armada, and killing the power for a year, and so on, because it is a happy time. Everyone is happy. Well during this joyous holiday Zim and GIR have returned. Because this is a happy time and everyone is happy he is not laughed at or belittled by the other Irkens, not even the tallest. All the Irken girls play with GIR and Zim lives life like a normal Irken. In the morning (the celebrations are at night under the three moons, moons are pretty) Zim and GIR return to Zim's old tiny living unit, which all Irkans are given, which consisted of a sleeping unit, a small work unit, and a TV wall. It has been the second night of the celebration, Zim is not tired yet, but he's too lazy to plan the destruction of earth on his vacation. This is where the story begins.  
  
Zim curled up in his old bed, looking at the holosimulation starry sky above. The room was dark now, only a faint light coming from the TV wall. The room hadn't changed in all these years. It even smelled the same. Zim yawned out of boredom. He wasn't quite tired yet. He wished that he could sleep, but the events of the that night ran through his mind. He loved this time of year. It was the only time Irks could act as they did before Xio took over and changed everything into a technological wasteland. The dances and feasting satisfied the little primitive instincts inside him. It was like going back into you birthing tube, surrounded by nurturing warmth and comfort of a peaceful darkness. Deep inside his little Irken body, a part of him begged to go back to those times before the steel, before the computers and machines; even tough he himself hadn't been alive before those times. But, so did every Irk, and they all knew that they could never go back. Xio made sure of that, by putting chemicals to turn them into mindless zombies and drowning out their instincts of survival. She destroyed the fruitful forests into trees of steel towers and the oceans into seas of wires flowing of electricity. When the Tallest came into power, they tried to stop pumping Irken children with chemicals that would turn them into empty drones. The sad truth was that they became dependant on the chemicals. After so many years of being bread in tubes, Irkens could not survive without them or breed naturally. Any Irken child born without being treated with the chemicals slowly wasted away. Through research, the chemical birthing soup changed so that the Irken children had somewhat of a mind of their own only to have separate ideas on taking over their neighborhood planets. Purple had once said that in the rein of Xio, nothing had changed and their race had almost become concurred because no one could think of new ways to destroy the enemy. Some instincts returned to Irkens, but they were very weak. It was more of a dreamy nostalgic feeling inside. New instincts had aroused from their tiny bowels as well, the after birth from the years of the rein of Xio. To concur and destroy. These instincts were strong. And would forever lay deep inside and Irken's heart for generations to come. All these thoughts ran through Zim's head. He wondered how Irk used to look before Xio. Only the tallest had lived that long. They were from a time that the shortest ruled, and when Xio was chosen as ruler. The tallest Irkens where experimented on. It gave them almost an eternal youthful life, the ability to float, and unprecedented fighting ability. It was also why their bodies where deformed and they had sharp internal pains all the time.  
  
Zim realized that the room was strangely quite. "GIR!" The little hyperactive robot didn't respond. "GIR!" Zim called out again, and there was still no answer. 'Shit' Zim thought to himself. He really didn't feel like finding GIR but he knew that the little robot would end up breaking something and getting him in trouble. His communicator slid out of his backpack. "GIR! Where are you! Get back here right now!...GIR...GIR! Damn it!" Zim cursed under his breath, they were very close to the Research Center. No one would be there if GIR got in and decided to reek havoc on the place. Zim activated a tracking device he had made just for GIR a while back. And Zim took special precautions that GIR couldn't remove his tracking chip like he did with all his other chips. His eye twitched when the tracker showed that GIR was in the old Xio nursery. When Xio fell, the tallest made sure that all her terrors fell with her. All the documents of making superior Irken beings where burned. All her mass weaponry that made the biological sweeping look like water pistols were destroyed. Her palace was broken into rubble and all her loyal servants executed. They destroyed all they could, except one thing. She had a nursery of unhatched experimental Irken children. Each with different abilities beyond imagination. The tallest couldn't destroy the nursery, for they were experiments themselves and it seemed wrong not to give them a chance. They nursery was always under close surveillance. Whenever a child was born they were examined immediately. They were trained differently from the other Irken kin and learned to use their powers to do good for Irk. They always looked different from the others, which made them exceptionality beautiful and respected by the other Irkens. But they all hatched at different times. Even to this day most of the experiments haven't hatched. And that's where GIR was. 


	2. Lilly

Chap 2. I do not own Zim ,they are owned by people with lots of money. You do not need more money people that own Zim, so please do not take mine.  
  
Zim ran through the research center as fast as his spider legs could go. It wasn't hard to find where GIR had gone, he left a trail of some kind of mess and open doors behind him. Zim's heart...thingy pounded heavily. He dreaded what he would find, what GIR had done in the nursery. The tallest would not easily so forgive him this time, even during the holiday. "EMERGENCY!!!! SERCURITY BREACH IN THE NURSERY CHAMBER!" The computer bellowed. The rooms flooded with red light and the alarm screamed through the halls. Zim pushed his legs harder, almost to the point of breaking the mechanical joints. The halls leading to the nursery seemed endless, the closer he got, the farther they seemed. Finally, he reached the nursery. GIR stood, staring in awe at the endless rows of un-hatched playmates.  
Zim panted, ready to explode at the little malfunctioned SIR, but Zim swallowed his anger (he had learned to do so with GIR, being angry at him didn't help anything and he would forget it in a few minutes anyway) calmly asked, "GIR, what do you think your doing?"  
GIR looked up at his master and smiled, "I wanted to play with the babies!"  
Rage boiled inside of Zim, but he remained calm. "GIR, how do you find out about this place? Do you have any idea how much trouble where in if someone finds that we've been here?"  
GIR looked up vacantly and turned to a tube, completely ignoring Zim's last statement, "Look master I think this ones gonna hatch, it's all blinky. See the little red light, it goes blink, blink, blink..."  
"What! Let me see!"  
"...Blink, blink. No it's my red blinky light! Blink, blink..."  
"GIR, we have to get out of here now! If that thing does hatch, people are going to come to take it away and were gonna get caught! Come on!"  
Zim grabbed on to GIR, but GIR latched on to a handle above the birthing tube and screamed some nonsense about his blinky red light. Zim pulled as hard has he could, but GIR wouldn't let go. Finally his little hands slipped sending him and Zim flying backwards slamming them into wall of unborn babies behind them. Zim was sandwiched between a birthing tube and GIR's little body, the handle dug deeply into his spine. Zim moaned in pain, everything became dark to him for a minute then he shook his head and looked down angrily at GIR. GIR stared straight ahead of him, with his curios, yet vacant stare. Zim too looked ahead, his eyes almost bulged out of his skull. The birthing tube had opened. This was not like his birthing tube, this was an older model. It slid out like a draw, and the child already had their backpack instead having it drilled into their back when they woke up. Zim got up slowly and approached the tube. Cold mist swirled around it of chemical vapors that would determine the child's ability. Zim peered into the mist, there reveled the tiniest Irken child sleeping peacefully. It seemed ghostly pale, literally pure white. He could tell that it was female from the perfect curls in her antenna and eyelashes. She was half the size of a normal Irken baby, which worried Zim, that she would be to small to survive or that GIR might have made her hatch premature before she could have fully developed. He wanted to pick her up and cradle her, but afraid that she would break in his hands. She seemed so delicate and pure, it was hard to believe that she was a real life Irk and not one of those china dolls on earth mocked up as an Irken. But she breathed so soundly, her body moving up and down with her long relaxed breaths.  
"Awww, she's soooo cuuute. Here hold her master." With that GIR snatched the baby out of her tube and shoved her in Zim's arms. She stirred to the sudden movement, but then cuddled into Zim's arms and fell back into a calm slumber. "I think she likes you!" GIR whispered. Zim stood in awe, looking down at the little child in his arms.  
Then he realized what he was doing. "GIR, we have to put her back."  
"But why, I wanna play with her." GIR whined. "She's not our responsibility! I can't take care of an Irken child! Especially one like her! We have to put her back, before someone finds us! Hopefully no one has noticed our presence because of the holiday, we might escape unnoticed." Zim felt the baby move in his arms. She stretched her tiny arms and yawned lazily. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at Zim. Her eyes where a haunting midnight blue almost like the night sky. She smiled and chirped happily reaching her arms out to Zim. Zim's heart melted, but he knew that he couldn't keep her. He sighed and placed her gently back in her tube. The baby looked back confused and started to whimper. She reached out her tiny arms and squealed, begging to be picked up. She couldn't understand why her friend was leaving her. Tears swelled up in her eyes as she whined louder and more franticly. She was scared that he would leave her. Zim looked down, and tried to say he was sorry with his eyes but he could only show her a growing panic. She cried pathetically, almost to quiet to be heard. "Come on GIR, let's go. You got me in enough trouble today." Zim grabbed little GIR by the hand and dragged him toward the door where he was greeted by two caretakers and the tallest themselves. Zim's heart...thingy sank. 'I'm dead'  
GIR smiled and waved. "HIIIIIIIII! Wanna play with the baaaby?"  
"My tallest, he knows not of what he does, his... AI... is messed up, I...I was going it fix it but..." Zim pleaded.  
The Red shook his head and Purple sighed. "Enough Zim. It's been a long night. We'll talk about this matter tomorrow. Just go."  
Zim skulked away, feeling the Tallest's eyes burn through him as he past them. He had never felt so small. He dragged GIR behind him, who was waving at the baby with his free arm. 'God. I'm so freakin dead.' Zim thought.  
"Zim!" a faint cry could be heard behind him. "Zim!" He looked back into the nursery. The caretakers and tallest surrounded the little child. She was crying. Zim looked back sadly, he wanted to take her back with him for some strange reason. "Zimmy!" The child cried again followed by the cutest little sniffles. Then...the child screamed bloody murder. Everyone stepped back from surprise of such a loud noise coming from such a tiny thing. GIR then for no reason at all other then the fact he was GIR, decided to imitate the screaming toddler.  
"Make it stop!" Red demanded holding where ears would have been. The caretakers scrambled to do everything they could to stop the screaming baby but with no avail. Zim stared helplessly back at the little child, her pure white skin now red from screaming and tears pouring down her face. Zim couldn't stand it anymore. He marched over to her and snatched her from the caretaker's arms.  
The child still screamed even now in Zim's hold. "Silence!" Zim said in a stern voice. The child stopped instantaneously. "That is no way for a proud Irken Child to behave!" Tears started to swell in her eyes again. Zim smiled reassuringly and held her close and rocked her back and forth. "That's better." She sniffed and buried her face into his chest. He could feel her wet tears bleed through his clothes slightly stinging him. He petted her head and tried to sooth her while wondering what the hell he was doing. This whole parental thing was not him. The caretakers looked astonished at the sight they saw before them. They all knew Zim well from assemblies that the tallest had shown what an incompetent idiot he was. Yet only he could calm the child while they could not. The Tallest frowned down on the care takers. Red spat, "What's the child's name, and duty." One of the caretakers gulped and looked on the cover of the birthing tube. "Her name is Lilly...but her ability is...unknown."  
  
Weeeeeeeee, that was fun. God I almost could read the original fic, Zim was to damn cute and cuddly. He still is but I'm no lazy fix all of it. Oh well, I hoped you enjoyed anyway. 


	3. chapter3

Thanks for your nice reviews!!! You made Lilly very happy. Invader Zim and related characters are not mine, it belongs to their respected owners. Lilly is mine technically but she's still an Irkie thingy so I guess she's not really, but you can hug her if you want.  
  
Well, as it goes, because of Lilly's underdeveloped size and her unknown ability she was to be terminated and It wasn't likely for an Irken baby that small to survive. She was most defiantly premature. But it wasn't GIR's fault, a glitch in the computer hatched her early and deleted the information on her abilities. And she was potentially dangerous in the tallest eyes. If they did not know her ability there was no way to suppress it till she was old enough to understand it and use it properly. Zim felt like an icy hand had squeezed his heart and ripped it out of his chest when he heard this. He clutched Lilly closer to him, but it was all numb, everything was numb. Lilly saw sadness in her friends face, she nuzzled to try to bring him comfort, but he felt nothing but a sharp pain in his heart. It all happened like a horrible dream. The tallest held out there arms to take the small child away, it was expected of Zim to obey. Zim's clouded head could not comprehend how the tallest could ever see the little white bundle he cradled in his arms as a threat to the Irken race. He then wondered why he was trying to protect her so. She was of no use to him, why would her death matter to him but he had no doubt that he had to protect her. The hands reached out for the little child, and Zim pulled back. The caretakers gasped at his disobedience to the tallest. gasp Zim stood down, looking up at the tallest frowning down at him. He swallowed hard and stood proudly before them. "My tallest...I will take care of this child. She won't be any harm to you on earth with me. I will take full responsibility for Lilly."  
  
Purple narrowed his eyes and stooped forward, bringing his face inches away from Zim's. Then he smiled, "Yeah, like you could take care of an Irken baby, you can't even control your own SIR unit." Red started to snicker. The care takers looked at each other confused as the tallest totally ignored Zim's defiance.  
  
"Eh?" Zim replied in confusion.  
  
Red retorted, "Yeah, and he thinks that, this little...thing could be a threat to us." They both started to laugh. Zim couldn't tell if he should have been angry or relived. It seemed that the tallest where gonna let the child live. The tallest stopped laughing and Purple cleared his throat. "Zim, to be completely honest, that child probably won't survive the next few days. Its not completely developed, and with a breed like her a malfunction like this is pretty fatal, it's happened before. They all died. But we will let you keep it. It seems that she only seems to shut up when your around anyway."  
  
Red's antenna shot straight up, he turned to Purple. "Your not serious are you!? Your trusting Zim with one of Xio's experiments!? Of all people, ZIM!  
  
Purple looked back with his eyes all twinklely, "But, look at her , she's so cute. Could you really hurt a little angel like that?"  
  
"No. But..." Red looked down.  
  
"Who else is gonna take care of her, we can't have her running around here, blowing up things because she doesn't know how to use her powers." Then Purple leaned closer to Red and whispered, "So we send her off with Zim and maybe if we're lucky well stop getting those annoying reports from Earth."  
  
"Oh OH. Ok. Yeah, Zim would be the "best qualified" for the job. Ok I'm tired, bye now." Purple waved off Zim and left the room with Red with the two astonished caretakers running behind them.  
  
Zim watched bewildered, not to sure of what had really happened. Then it hit him. "I have to take care of this thing, what was I thinking!?" Zim held Lilly in front of him and examined her, she smiled back and held out her arms missing the warmth of Zim's arms and begging to be hugged again.  
  
"Yaaaay, I get to play with the baby!" GIR squealed and danced around Zim's feet.  
  
Zim sighed and set the little Irken on the ground. Lilly looked up confused at his actions. Zim paced back and forth, looking down at her, thinking of his plans for her. She didn't have a uniform, hell she was naked. He didn't have baby nutrients to nourish her. He didn't know how to take care of a baby. Zim stopped and stooped down to her. So delicate she seemed. She attempted to stand to walk over to Zim, but fell on her face on the slippery floor. She whined slightly out of frustration and wondering why Zim wasn't helping her. Zim got up and walked four feet away. "If you want to grow strong like the other Irken hatchlings, you must learn to walk Lilly. Normal Irken children are able to walk at birth, and you will do the same. I'm not going to baby you like the other premature ones, they perished because they where weak and babied. I'm not going to let you end up like them now if you want to go home now you'll walk to me. We're not leaving till you do." He said sternly. Then his features softened, it was hard to be firm to Lilly, she was so tiny and helpless. But he was determined to make sure she survived. She called to her gently and held out his arms to her. Tears came to her eyes, but she wanted to please Zim, she wanted to be cradled again. She wiped them away and stood up again. She wobbled but maintained her balance. She smiled at her accomplishment, she felt strong, but her legs soon gave way and she fell on her back. She looked at Zim helplessly and a weak "Zim" cried out from her tiny voice.  
  
GIR came from behind Zim, he looked up to his master a little angry at his treatment toward Lilly. But from the look on Zim's face even he could tell that Zim was not enjoying this either. He looked to Lilly who now was again picking herself up from the floor. "Come on Lilly, come here." Zim said sternly but still reassuring. Lilly was now determined to get to Zim. She closed her eyes and remembered how the caretakers left with the tallest, the exact movements of their stride. She steadied herself and carefully put one foot in front of her. She smiled and put her other foot in front of that one. She mimicked the caretaker's steps perfectly all the way to Zim. Still her legs were weak and she stumbled onto his leg. She wrapped her tiny arms around Zim and buried her face into his belly. Zim held her close and picked her up off the ground. "Come Lilly. We go home now."  
  
She looked up at him and smiled sweetly. Her deep blue eyes again pulled Zim's curiosity. He wondered of her hidden powers and if he could exploit them. Hopefully he could teacher her to use her powers to take over Earth. He shook his head. This was not the time to think about earth, this was his holiday, and he had a new mission to take care of. How to take care of his little Lilly. He shook his head again. His little Lilly? "To much time on earth with those filthy humans has made me soft." He said to GIR who just looked up with a blank stare and smiled for some reason he didn't know why.  
  
He turned to leave the nursery. As he did Lilly peered over his shoulder looking back at her open birthing tube. The lack of the cool chemical vapors and silent darkness made her a little dizzy. She had waited so long to be free from the dark, but now she wanted to go back. Even though that she had new friends that she loved very much, so many senses and feelings hit her all at once. It was all so new, everything so alien and strange. She didn't like most of the feelings she sensed. She did however, love the warmth of Zim and the sound of his heart beat. It was as close as the comforting darkness of the tube that she would ever have, and that she favored to warmth to the cold vapors. She also loved his little robot. She watched as he tagged along beside Zim. She observed the movement of his body as he walked, ran, skipped, and danced. For every movement he made she made a mental note. Soon her home was out of sight. She became scared and buried her face into Zim's shoulder.  
  
She hated the ugly metal and wires that covered every inch of the building. The hum of electricity that flowed through the wiring irritated her ears. Zim pulled her close to his chest and told her to sleep. It was a long walk out of the facility. Especially now that the tallest had closed all the doors and the messes cleaned up by maintenance androids, he had no idea where the way out was. Lilly took his advice and cuddled into his arms. She felt safe by his side and his heartbeat lulled her to sleep.  
  
I hope you like. Please R&R. 


	4. reaching for the stars

Invader Zim is own by their respected owners not by me, bla bla bla.  
  
Earth  
  
Dib laid on his roof gazing at the thousands of twinkling stars above, wondering which one Zim was terrorizing that very second. He had been bored out of his mind that month since Zim had left in the summer. He had mostly been working on new plans to capture Zim or expose him to the world as the little alien scumbag that he was. He couldn't wait to try them out when he came back. A sly smile came to his face. Finally the world would know that he wasn't crazy. Then smile faded. But they wouldn't care now would they? He wouldn't have to be the lone savior of the earth if somebody else would just open their eyes and look. No. They were to busy deciding which cloths they would wear, or which person they would torment next. He constantly asked himself why. Why did he want to waste his time saving people that weren't worth saving? People that mocked him, people that didn't care about the fate of their own planet. If only they for once would look at the world around them, and see what he saw. Then they wouldn't call him crazy anymore. Dib sighed. 'Maybe I am crazy?' he thought. It would make sense, he was the only one that saw the world the way it was, or the only one who cared. Maybe the human race had evolved to block out everything that wasn't "normal". And when they did see the unexplained, they would deny it, prosecute it, or even try to destroy it. He had 't had any real friends, only Gaz when she didn't feel like evoking her wrath on him. But what were people anyway? He didn't need anybody. He would make sure that they would remember Dib. "They will all remember..." he said as he dozed off under the blanket of stars.  
  
Back on Irk  
  
Zim tucked Lilly into his bed, and he plopped down beside her. He closed his eyes and listened as GIR crawled next to him. His eyes were so heavy, he knew that he needed to take care of Lilly first. But he couldn't bring himself to pry his eyes back open. He could feel himself sinking into sleep, like he was being pulled into the comfort of his bed. Lilly nestled herself close to him, attracted to his warmth. Zim smiled slightly and stroked her perfectly curled antenna. 'How am I going to take care of you? How did I get myself into this mess first of all.' he thought to himself. GIR crawled up onto his head, reminding him what got him into "this mess". Zim sighed, to tired to push the little robot off, so he let him remained perched on his big green head. Silence soon gave way to GIR's slight snoring and Lilly's light breathing. HE wondered why GIR snored when he didn't really need to breath. Zim smiled weakly, to tired to really show any emotion. Soon he too was pulled into sweet the unconsciousness of sleep through the slight hum of the simulated stars above.  
  
The next eve, Lilly rubbed her tired eyes and opened them slowly. The room was still dark, and a bit lonely. She curled up closer to Zim. As her eyes focused in the darkness, she noticed that a faint light was coming from above. She looked up in wonder at the hullo-simulation of Irk's night sky watching down on her. Her deep blue eyes wide with wonder, she stared at the millions of tiny specks sparkling mysteriously, calling her name. She reached her tiny hands to touch the stars, but they were to far to grasp.  
  
Zim smiled as he watched her, remembering how he used to do the same when he was only a few days old. "There're pretty, yes?" Lilly looked back with a sad look, not being able to touch them. Zim got up and stretched his limbs thinking of the new night's celebrations. "Crap! What the hell am I going to feed you?" Zim's tone quickly changed.  
  
Lilly looked back and smiled. "Food." She said sweetly  
  
Zim looked closer at her. "I'm glad you learning how to speak words other then Zim. Do you know what food you eat." Lilly shrugged. "Great. Well lets see how you react to adult food." Zim walked out of the room, forgetting that GIR was still on his head. Lilly heard Zim yelling after he had accidentally woken the little robot up. GIR happily skipped back into the room and sat on the bed next to Lilly. Zim returned with a bump on his head and food for both of them. He glared at GIR who only smiled back unknowing to what he did wrong. Zim sighed and sat on the other side of Lilly who eagerly awaited this new experience called food. He gave her something that looked like a granola bar and she smiled thankfully. She looked down at the silver wrapped treat then looked back at Zim. "What?" Zim asked and he was about to unwrap his meal. Lilly stared confused, the tried to shove her food in her eye. As she did this she squeaked in pain every time she poked the bar in her eye trying to eat it. Zim shook his head. "No Lilly you put it in you mouth." Lilly seemed astonished at this news. It suddenly all made sense to her so she bit down on the rations that Zim had given her. But it was still wrapped, making it hard to bite off a chunk. "No, no, no. You take that shinny thing off, like this." Zim pulled back his wrapper, showing her as an example. Lilly studied this action carefully and repeated the act perfectly. Then she ate, and gagged. Zim calmly patted her back and helped her swallow the food. She threw the rest of the bar on the floor and hid behind Zim.  
  
"Awwwww, baby don't like her food. I'LL MAKE HER TACOS" GIR screamed.  
  
"No, GIR. She just doesn't know how to swallow yet. She's very strange. Most Irken babies can survive on their own from day one. And she can't even swallow her own food." Zim got up from his sleeping unit and picked up the bar. "You need to eat Lilly, your survival depends on it. Now bite and chew." Zim commanded sternly as her held the bar to her face. And she obeyed. This time with success. She snatched the bar away and ate it greedily. She found out that this food made that empty feeling in her insides go away. Zim sighed and went to make her a uniform. Seeing that she was a special Irken he would make her a uniform with different colors. He etched the sizes and style that the outfit should be into the computer. The computer spout out the exact commands of a neatly pressed blue and purple Irken Invader Uniform. He smiled proudly and went to put it on Lilly. He found her on the floor chewing the wrapper. He took the wrapper out of her mouth and wrestled the uniform on her. She looked back angrily at Zim, these clothes she found very uncomfortable and they restricted her movements. Zim ,on the other hand, felt a warm glow inside. Lilly already looked like a young lady in her uniform, ready to start destroying the unsuspecting humans of earth. She was not impressed. She started pulling her dress off. "Lilly! You have to keep you uniform on. You can't walk around naked."  
  
"But I walk around naked." GIR said confused.  
  
Zim sighed and picked Lilly up off the ground. "Come on. Lets go. I don't want to miss anything this Nioxina. I think you'll like it Lilly." Lilly still mad about her uniform, looked at Zim with that cute pouty look that little kids give you. "Your acting like a stubborn earth child." Zim snapped.  
  
Lilly's eyes popped open with curiosity. "Earth?"  
  
Zim realized his mistake. He ignored her, and walked out the door to the new nights celebrations.  
  
Later that night  
  
Zim and Lilly watched the lights below from the observation deck . Shadows danced around the warm fires and the smell of meat hung in the air. They had such a great night. Everyone loved her, some girls wanted to play with her. Lilly learned all new experiences, such as music, and dancing. She was sad to see that Zim always just watched from the sides and never joined the fun like GIR did. She was amazed at all these new encounters and feelings, but they all flooder her at once. She was to afraid to stray from Zim's side for to long. Soon she grew tired. Zim saw this and took her to one of the observation decks. There they sat for the rest of the night. She munched happily on the slab of dead animal flesh she was given.  
  
Zim smiled at her and looked up. Lilly followed his example, as she always did. A piece of meat fell out of her mouth as she stared up at the sky. They were even more beautiful then the stars at home. She stood up and walked to the railing, climbing on it to reach the shinny specks. She stretched out her tiny little fingers as far as they would go. Zim looked down where she was sitting before, only to see the remains of the half eaten meat. He looked around for her, nearly jumping out of his skin when he found her hanging from the railing. Zim rushed over to her as she slipped off the railing. Zim dove and snatched her by her boot nearly falling off himself. She looked down at the dark streets hundreds of feet below, swaying gently side to side. Zim felt her boot slipping off her foot, he panicked and threw her behind him, leaving him a free arm to pull himself back onto the balcony. Lilly tumbled not to far from the railing. She picker her self up and started to cry. A horrible death glare came from Zim, he walked over to Lilly and looked down at her angrily. She didn't seem to notice, she kept on crying in her hands. "What? What's the matter?" Zim asked impatiently.  
  
She wiped her tears away and looked up to the sky again. "Why?"  
  
"Eh?"  
  
She looked at Zim with watery eyes. "Why so far?" She pointed up.  
  
"Lilly, you can't touch them, there billions of miles away. Even if they were closer, you still can touch them. There huge balls of fiery gas and molten lava. You would burn up if you got within a few miles of one's surface." Zim said as he picked her up. Lilly looked at him confused. Zim tried to think of an example, when he saw the sun starting to rise. "Our sun is a star. Each star is like our sun, only they look different because those ones are so far away."  
  
"Not fair." Lilly said sadly.  
  
Zim sighed. "There still pretty to look at. They said that primitive earth monkeys used the stars to guide them home from sea."  
  
Lilly perked up, "Earth?"  
  
"Forget it, Lets find GIR and go home."  
  
Wow, that ending sucked. Man I'm tired. Well I hoped you like it, there wasn't much point to this chapter I know but I thought it was cute so tough. 


	5. goin on a trip

Throughout the holiday Lilly observed all that her tiny head could handle. She watched the behavior of her fellow species, how different devices worked, and how things reacted to each other. Mostly she loved to stare into the night sky. Zim would tell her about space, and the that almost every sun had a planet with some form of life, weather it was intelligent life, or tiny bacteria that would one day evolve into something great. She always listened to Zim's lessons, clinging on to each word with wide blue eyes. Many things she didn't understand, like why Zim always degraded other forms of life and always wanted to concur them. She also didn't understand why she had to always obey the tallest, do what ever they said, and that her number one duty was to please them. She never understood why it was so important to please two complete strangers, who where going to terminate her in the first place (yes, she did remember that) and then mocked her guardian. They never even bothered to see her again. Zim never did answer her when she asked why. He did get real angry though. He didn't talk to her for the rest of the night.  
Soon the holiday was over, everyone seemed to turn into some kind of mindless drone. All except Zim and GIR. Zim kept on muttering to himself about destruction and being ruler of all humans. The other Irkens no longer treated him equal to everyone else. They would shun him, whisper the latest rumors of his failures behind his back. Lilly felt a new emotion, one she didn't like too much. She felt the need to hurt the ones that hurt her and Zim. Her face would get hot, and a deep dark feeling would form inside her. She then would feel sharp pains at her finger tips and a burning sensation in her heart. (By the way, that's not normal) Zim once noticed her fingertips bleeding after another Irken child smashed the toy that Zim had given to her on her head for being so small.  
One night, Zim was making her a meal that he read was best suited for Irken babies. He smiled as he looked down at his masterwork of the culinary arts. He looked up, hearing Lilly cry. He sighed and took the food to her. She was hugging GIR who looked up all sad to his master. He set the food on the floor and sat down beside her, stroking her head gently. She looked up, her face soaked with tears. She spook one simple sentence that left Zim feeling empty. "Why they so mean to us?" Zim looked at the three of them, one malfunctioning idiotic outdated SIR model, one remnant of something no one wanted to remember, and the sole purpose that Impending Doom I failed. Zim looked down at the floor, not knowing what to say to her. He couldn't look at her sad eyes. Lilly sniveled and crawled under Zim's arm, with GIR at her other side. Usually the treatment that he got from the others didn't bother him much. He had learned from the beginning to ignore the other Irkens, only interact with them to get what you needed. Friends? He didn't need friends. He had made his own little world ,which he did admit, got him in a lot of trouble. It had never really bothered him before. He was just used to it and he never questioned it. Lilly he knew was different. From the beginning she needed companionship and still desired it in other means then using others to gain power among her peers like Irkans do. He sighed and tried to explain in a way that she would understand. "Lilly, as cruel as it my be, we are the smallest of our race. To gain respect we must prove ourselves that despite our size, we are equal or even better then them." Zim said flatly.  
Again it was something that Lilly didn't understand, why size was so important. She knew that she was born premature, and she would probably develop differently from everyone else. Probably only grow a foot or so. Why would she have to be stepped on for a computer glitch? She never asked to be a "special" child. Her life was the product of a cruel joke, an experiment, of someone who destroyed the lives of billions and would keep on destroying for generations even after being long dead. 'Just a sick experiment.' she thought. 'That's all I am.' She closed her eyes and tried to forget those horrible thoughts. They were sent to the back of her mind, soon vanished from her resent emotions. She was yet to young to understand this and they would resurface when she would be ready to deal with them. But not now, not this young.  
"Lilly?" Zim called softly. Lilly looked up blankly. "I wanted to keep this a surprise, but I think you need to here this now." Zim finally looked her in the eye. "Where going to earth tomorrow."  
Lilly perked up, for some reason when she heard the word, curiosity took over. Probably because Zim always avoided the subject. "Earth?"  
Zim nodded. "Yeah, that's where the tallest have me stationed at. I only came home for Neoxina. It's a planet about six months from here, but with my incredible mechanical skills it should only take a month."  
  
"Earth is where...the the big headed Dib person lives and they have chocolate flavored bubble gum suckies that make me oh so happy." GIR chimed.  
  
"So you won't have to deal with the other Irkens anymore. Although you'll have to deal with filthy disgusting Earth creatures called humans. They can be just as bad. But they leave you alone after awhile." Zim explained.  
  
Lilly looked up blankly. Only a week old and she was leaving her home planet. She would be leaving the little safe haven of Zim's familiar apartment onto a strange new planet. But to get to Earth, they would have to travel through space, or as Lilly called it, "The black sea." As much as she loved the stars, the black sea scared, yet called to her. A little nagging poke to her head said in a mystical creepy voice, "Come to me Lilly, dance with the stars and sail the vast seas of space." Ok, it didn't really do that. But deep inside her belly full of half digested food, something was being drawn to the black sea. Every thing would be alright though, as long as she was with Zim and GIR.  
  
"Now if you want to prepare for earth, you need to eat. You should really like this, I made it special just for you. Now eat." Lilly smiled as he put the dish in front of her. She had mastered the art of eating, no more poking food in her eye. Her squiggly spooch churned uneasily as the fragrance of the weird looking meal entered her nose...thingy.  
  
She held her nose and looked angrily at Zim. "It smells funny."  
  
Zim narrowed his eyes. She looked down shyly tried the first bite. "You like, yes?" Zim asked anxiously before Lilly threw her tray in his face. Zim calmly wiped the gooky crap off his faceand in a dangerous growl threatened, "That was a mistake my friend." Lilly crossed her arms and pouted, her insides growling waiting to be fed. He flicked the food off his hands and stooped down to Lilly's face. "I'm not going to starve you, that would be cruel. But I will make you eat that meal again...EVERY DAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! Mwhahahahaha!" Somehow Lilly failed to see the humor in this and started crying again.  
  
"Why you mean to Lilly master, master mean!" GIR fumed.  
  
"Aw, come on! I didn't mean it Lilly. Don't cry." Zim picked the little baby Irken up. She stopped, her little belly growling. Zim sighed and reached for another nutrition bar in his bag. She snatched it and ate it greedily. After, she looked at Zim's head, which still had some food dripping off of it. "Sorrwy."  
  
"Yeah, well...don't do it again." He said as he got some more bars for her. After this we get straight to bed. I want to leave as early as possible. He held the bar to her face, but she was already asleep. 


	6. Boredom and Butterflies

Wow, this keeps on going and going n stuff. Just like that horrible pink bunny with the battery sticking out of his back. Anywho, DIB GONNA BE IN THIS CHAPTER! I love Dib. I feel bad for not having him yet except in that totally irrelevant paragraph before. Does anyone else besides me notice that Zim's head is bigger in proportion to his body, and Dib gets made fun of for having a big head!?  
  
There wasn't much to do on that long trip to Earth, other then listening to Zim's lessons and looking out the window. The deep emptiness inside Lilly was filled, looking at all the different passing planets and how the stars slowly changed as they traveled on. She felt at home in the ship, and all her fears of the "dark sea" simply left her. But her fear was replaced by boredom. Zim was tired of giving her lessons, and he lagged on, not really caring if she was listening or not. GIR somehow found fun in anything, mostly in ways that drove Zim crazy, like how many times he could poke Zim in the head till it made a squishy noise which heads aren't supposed to make. But finally after a month, they arrived at earth. Lilly looked at the blue planet below in wonder. She wiggled her arms in glee that she was finally going to get off the little ship. Zim set the landing coordinates to where the base was.  
"Finally, to continue my rein of doom upon the stinky humans." Zim kept on ranting to himself. Sometimes during the trip, he would suddenly break into mechanical laughter that kind of worried Lilly, just like he was doing now. They quickly landed into the roof of the strange little house, which enclosed and concealed the zip craft.  
A few blocks down, Dib watched on the roof from a pair of binoculars as the ship landed. Now to put all the little schemes he worked on all summer to test. Only two more weeks till he was back to skool. He would have to work quick if he didn't want it to effect his grades like it did last year. He slid down the pipe into the soapy water of the kitchen sink. He shook the water off and ran into his room. He shut the door behind, and looked around the room making sure that for some unknown reason, someone would be in there waiting for him. He ran to his window and shut the blinds, looked around one last time being the paranoid little boy he was. When it was confirmed that not a single soul lurked in his room other then the little spider that made it's web in the corner. He named him Cheese Nip. It sometimes made him sad that he was lonely. He opened the closet door. In the closet lay a loose floorboard and under it was a box, chained, locked and bolted to the ground. He took a key which he held tightly in his hand, and unlocked all three locks. He opened the steel box, which held tiny little treasures that only a paranormal boy would see valuable. A picture of his mother, a toenail clipping from bigfoot, the first piece of alien evidence he ever found, a signed copy of crop circles magazine, and a science project that he and his dad worked on together a long time ago. He brushed those away after admiring them for awhile to reveal a canny little device. He had forgotten what it really was, but it was something for catching aliens. It was his mother's, passed on to her from her father. They were both paranormal investigators. She had disappeared when he was young, looking for alien life. She always told him, to look at the world around you with your eyes and mind wide open. No matter what, her husband was never able to keep her from searching and he lost her. He had already felt that he had lost Dib, and didn't try to stop him anymore although he still discouraged him. He fingered the contraption, wondering what it really was, it was old, kind of primitive. After all, his grandpa had made it. He was thrown into the nut house, paranormal studies weren't looked on kindly back then. Nut houses weren't exactly meant to help people back then either. His grandfather never left the walls of the filthy building until he was in a coffin. Dib held it tighter, he would have to catch Zim, in the name of his mother and grandfather. They weren't going to be mocked anymore. All the ignorant little people would see that they weren't crazy. He put the device in his pocket for luck and locked up his treasures once more and hid them back under the floor board. Then he pulled out a big cardboard box, full of little alien catching devices of his own design. This time, he would catch Zim. No matter what.  
  
Lilly explored the new house, she wanted to go out and play, but Zim wouldn't let her. He said she needed a proper disguise to fool the stupid humans. She tried to go in the lab down the potty, but Zim yelled at her and told her to stay upstairs while he worked in his lab. So now all she could do was observe her new surroundings, noticing each little detail as she eyed each object. But there wasn't much to Zim's house and she soon grew board again. GIR sat happily watching TV, he missed it so. Lilly sat beside him and sighed. "Why is Lilly so sad?" GIR asked. She looked out the window sadly and pointed out. "Aw, you want to go out and play. Master says you need a disguise to go outside." The little Robot sat thinking hard. "I know! You can borrow mine!" GIR screamed happily. Lilly's antenna perked up. GIR pulled his little doggy suit out of his head and held it out so she could get in it. She struggled into it, but finally got it on. It was really baggy on her, and she had a hard time moving, being half the size of GIR n all, but after a little practice she got the hang of it. She opened the door and motioned GIR to come out with her. GIR shrugged, "I can't. Don't have a costume now." Lilly looked longingly at the green grass and frolicking squirrels out the open door. She didn't want to go by herself, it was new and possibly dangerous. Curiosity took over fear and she stepped outside smiling. The grass tickled her through the suit and the sun was warm. She smiled and crawled over to the lawn gnomes and poked they're shinny eyes. They stood by harmlessly seeing her as a deflated GIR and saw no need to warn Zim of the presence of the little Lilly baby. GIR smiled and shut the door, master always said to shut the door and this time he remembered. He left the Irken child to play on the lawn and he continued to watch the angry monkey show which he loved so very much. She rolled in the grass enjoying the tickly little blades of grass that brushed her face. She sat up looking at the puffy clouds above, giggling at one that looked like Zim's head when he was yelling. Closing her eyes, she soaked up the warm sun. Her eyes popped open as she heard heavy footsteps nearby. She hid behind a gnome and watched as a lady pushed her carriage along the sidewalk. Lilly's eyes grew huge with fear. It was a human, the one's that Zim told her about, AND IT WAS HUGE. Almost as big as the Tallest. The lady stopped and looked at Lilly. The lady was not a smart lady. She had mistaken the severe baggyness of the costume as hunger. She took a granola bar from her bag and approached Lilly. Lilly panicked and backed up slowly. "Aw, it's ok little fella. I'm not gonna hurt you. You wanna treat. You wanna treat you silly puppy. Yes you do. Yes you do." The lady cooed. Food aroused Lilly's hunger. Cautiously, she took a step forward. The lady smiled and threw the bar on the ground before Lilly. Lilly snatched the bar and gobbled it greedily. The lady patted her head and went away with her carriage. Confused at the encounter, Lilly watched as the strange lady walked away. Humans couldn't be as bad as Zim said if they gave her free food. Yet Irkens also gave her free food and patted her on the head, then changed into mean people that made her heart thingy hurt. Soon other humans passed her house, each different sizes and looks. They were all different. This amazed Lilly. Yeah sure you would have a Irken a little taller or with a different outfit depending on their rank, but they were mostly all the same. These humans fascinated her, she wanted to learn more about them, but from a safe distance. Her thoughts where cut short when a butterfly landed on her nose. She sneezed and the butterfly flew off. "No. Don't go." She cried, but it only flew further. With nothing else to do, she decided to chase it. From flower to flower she pounced, chasing it farther and farther. It flew higher, so she jumped after it. Soon it flew over the fence, leaving Lilly all alone in the yard. 'Well maybe... I'll just go far enough to catch it, then I come right back with it.' Lilly thought, and went beyond the fence. She looked around a little, then spotted it. She giggled as she chased it some more, into the street. Cars swerved around her, as she was oblivious to all but her ecstasy in chasing the little colorful butterfly. Zim rose out of the potty, with contacts and a pretty dark blue wig for Lilly. "Lilly, I have something for you." Zim called, but no answer. "After I give this to you, and I can take you outside like you wanted." Zim called again. He walked into the living room, and glared at GIR on the couch. "GIR," Zim said accusingly "Where's Lilly?" "Outside." GIR said flatly, not seeing anything wrong with the answer. "WHAT! She's exposed! I haven't given Lilly her disguise yet! I told you not to let her outside!" "Don't worry master, I let her borrow mine! I thought with my brains this time, just like you told me to!" GIR smiled. Zim's eye twitched, he threw the costume down and ran outside. 


	7. Alone? Not quite

Lilly looked at the refection in the water staring back at her. Tears distorted her reflection as they hit the pond water in the park. She wiped the wet trails away with the doggy suit sleeve and cried harder. The butterfly was gone, and she realized was all alone and lost on an alien planet. Zim was going to yell at her, he would say that he would disappointed in her, and maybe that he didn't want her any more. That she was just trouble and that he shouldn't of taken her. The sun began to set, the park activity died down to a few humans, mostly couples looking at the red sky. Soon it would be dark, thoughts of being lost forever raced through her head. She striped of the dog suit, and began to look around to see if anything was familiar. She felt stupid in only paying attention to the butterfly. But it was so hard to focus on anything else, it was colorful and bright. She sniveled and made a bed out of the dog suit and laid down in it, cuddling into the sent of GIR(tacos and candy) which calmed her down. She didn't feel so lonely. But she wasn't alone. From the bushes, a big headed shadow crouched, watching. All day he had followed and studied her every move, debating if he should kidnap her or not. The thought alone made him sick. Kidnap? A paranormal investigator he was, but not a kidnapper, even if it was the alien scourge of the universe. So he waited for Zim to come a claim her so he could trap him. It was obvious that she knew him, she had GIR's suit. But it seemed that Zim wasn't going to come anytime soon. He would have to go home soon before it was to dark to see in the park. He sighed and packed up his things and turned for home, but tiny weeps made him turn back. The little alien shivered in fear and cold. Dib smacked himself on the forehead. "Come on Dib, it's the enemy. She's a blood thirsty monster tying to destroy the human race. Why should I care if she freezes to death...in the dark...alone." Pity came over him, as he heard her tiny cries. "Well, if I take her home, I can hold her for ransom, and Zim will have to surrender to me! Yes, it's perfect, it will be so simple! Yeah, I'll take her home and demand her to tell me everything to know about Zim's weaknesses and..." Dib stopped his ranting as he noticed the little alien staring at him with a confused look. Dib smiled sweetly and asked in a very soothing voice, "Are you lost kid. I can take you to my place. You shouldn't be out here all alone at night. It isn't safe." Lilly sunk as deep into the costume as she could go. Dib slowly stepped closer. Lilly took a defensive stance and growled at the strange human. Clearly unthreatened, Dib kneeled down beside her and began to look at her more closely. "Are you sick, your really pale?" Dib asked. Lilly didn't respond at first. She just stared at the boy, then tears slowly formed around her eyes and she hugged him out of loneliness. Dib was taken by surprise at her sudden action. He quickly picked her up and held her, concealing her in his coat. He looked around to see if anyone was looking and ran home through the night with the crying baby in his arms.  
  
(dramatic no?)  
  
Zim searched everywhere on the block twice over with sad GIR in his dirty boy costume by his side. GIR cried, he understood what her had done. Zim was angry at first, but took most of the blame himself trusting GIR with Lilly when she was his responsibility. He forgave GIR and took him out to help in the search. In the empty streets he stood under a street light, worrying for his little companion. GIR shrieked her name, but all that responded was his own echo. Zim looked up to the stars, wondering where she was. "Dammit! It's all my fault!" Zim yelled at himself. GIR looked up sadly at his master. "I'm sorry." GIR whimpered. Upon looking at little teary eyed robot he sighed. She must have been so scared all alone at night. "GIR, it wasn't your fault, and being sorry won't get her back." Zim said. "Come on, we're not going to find her standing here wishing she was back." GIR saluted and continued his search. Little did they know, a few blocks down, Lilly was tucked snuggly into the trench coat of Zim's mortal enemy.  
  
"Where were you son? It's late." Said the floating image of the professor from behind him. Dib froze in the hallway, praying that his dad wouldn't see the tiny alien he hid in his jacket. "These foolish late night outing is what got you into summer skool young man." Professor Membrane sighed. "Your growing up, it's time you put aside those childish fantasies of aliens and monsters." Dib turned to face the image of his dad, only to find on the bottom of the screen "message recorded from earlier today" in bright red and yellow staring right back at him. But the image of his father was a sad one, it hurt Dib. His father had predicted what he would do, but he didn't have the time or the guts to face him about it. Dib walked to his room disgusted and slammed the door behind him. Inside his jacket Lilly squirmed restlessly, trying to see where the strange human took her. Dib unzipped his jacket and set her on the bed. They stared at each other for awhile, not really sure what to make of the other. Lilly had recognized Dib's profile from listening to Zim's constant ranting. She realized the situation she was in, but it was better then being alone. Dib after taking a close look, pondered how he didn't squish the little Irk under his jacket. She was so tiny that he could of fit her body in an inside pocket if he had one. "Zimmy." Lilly said sadly. Dib sighed, laid on the floor and look at his ceiling covered in glow stars. "How'd you get lost?" Lilly didn't respond. Dib rolled over and looked up to her eyes. "How do you know Zim, is he your brother?" Lilly shook her head. "You don't talk much, do you?" "Are you gonna autopsy me now?" Lilly asked shakily. "Do you even know what an autopsy is?" Dib asked in a half laugh. Lilly again shook her head. "You seem too nice to be hanging out with Zim. What's your name?" Lilly though a bit before giving her name to her guardian's enemy, but she trusted him for some strange reason. "Lilly." She squeaked. She eyed Dib nervously, then asked. "Why did you take me with you? Zimmy said that you would do bad things if you caught me." "Yeah well, your not what I expected. I thought you where gonna be evil like Zim." Flames flew in Lilly's eyes. "Zimmy's not evil, he stood up for me when they were gonna kill me. He took me home even that I get in the way of his mission. He made the bad people go away when they picked on me. He took me home even though I'm an error." "Yeah, and he's trying to destroy an entire planet and enslave the human race." Dib snapped. Lilly bit her lower lip not knowing what to say. She didn't understand why Zim always wanted to destroy others. "I want Zimmy." "Weren't you listening to me? Zim is bad! You don't want to be raised by him! He's a thing of pure evil!" Dib yelled at her. Lilly replied with pleading eyes for him to stop talking about her guardian. Unable to face her sad eyes, Dib turned around and nervously scratched the back of his head. "Well, he can be sort of ok sometimes... I guess. Well not really, I mean, he does want to destroy the..." "STOP IT!" Lilly burst out suddenly. "Leave Zim alone!" She cried. Dib looked down to the ground, feeling like shit. "I'm sorry. He's the only one that looks after you isn't he. I shouldn't of said that." Dib looked at her apologetically. "I can't take you home now (that be a lie. Oooooo bad Dibby.) its to late. But can I do anything for you for tonight? Are you hungry, thirsty, cold?" Lilly shook her head and yawned. Dib smiled and got extra blankets and a pillow from the closet. He made a small bed on the floor, and put her in it. "You've had a long night, you should get some rest. I'll be back in a little while, I have to...uuuuh, get stuff." Lilly curled up in the blankets and smiled briefly at Dib, then laid down to sleep. Dib left the room, returning with the top half of a rabbit cage and a polaroid camera. He placed the cage over the sleeping alien gently and started taking pictures. He smiled as he thought of Zim's face, looking at the pictures of his precious Lilly trapped in a tiny little cage all alone. He wasn't doing anything wrong. Lilly was fine, he wasn't going to hurt her. It was just pretend. He hoped that she would one day forgive him for the horrors he was gonna unleash upon Zim, but it was for her own good. He wouldn't mind raising her himself if it got Zim out of the way. He held the developing photos in his hand, smiling a smile of victory. It was 10:00pm, the night had just begun. It was time for preparations for tomorrows perfect day. The day when Earth was no longer threatened by Zim's evil.  
  
In the park, Zim sat, holding the doggy suit that Lilly had shed. His heart had sunk, his hope almost gone, for the little baby he lost. 


	8. Innocence meets anger

Invader Zim be not mine. It belong to it's respected owners. And yes, Zim is still way OCC  
O.o o.O  
  
Lilly stared out the window, she couldn't sleep long. Not when she wasn't with Zim. It was 2am, and the Dib human still hadn't returned to the room like he said he would. She was alone again, but at least she was safe inside. The stars shinned brightly, she smiled. Zim was under the same stars, maybe even looking at them that very moment. This gave her comfort, and she didn't feel quite so alone. She couldn't wait until morning, when Dib would take her home like he said. Zim would probably be mad, but it didn't matter. She reached her tiny little hands to the sky once again. Tears came to her eyes, she wouldn't accept what Zim had said.  
Rustling on the roof startled Lilly. She dove under Dib's blankets and listened. "Dib, it's late. Get off the roof before I hurt you." Said an angry female voice.  
"Aw, come on Gaz, I can't sleep." Dib replied to the voice.  
"Fine, but if you wake me up, I will destroy you...horribly." The voice called Gaz had spoken, and then Lilly heard footsteps in the hall and a nearby door being shut. Lilly poked her head out of the door and examined the hallway. Seeing no one she crept on her hands and knees toward the light at the end of the hall. She found herself in the kitchen. She looked around, finding nothing of real interest. She was about to explore the other regions of the house when suddenly a loud splash. Dib hopped out of the sink and shook himself off. He turned to see Lilly staring at him in a quizzical matter.  
"What are you doing up this late Lilly?" Dib asked surprised at seeing her standing there. She didn't answer. "Come on, lets get you back to bed." Dib said as he picked her up and brought her back to his room. Placing her gently back in the little bed he had made, she smiled. Dib looked back at her solemnly, "Lilly, I can't take you home tomorrow." Tears immediately began to form in her pretty blue eyes. Dib had planned all night what excuses he would say, but they all escaped him.  
A shaky little "Why?" was all Lilly could say. Dib nervously rubbed the back of his head, turning away so he didn't see the little baby cry because of him. "Um...I have school tomorrow...and I'll be there all day. But don't worry, I...I'll get you home as soon as possible. And Gaz will be here to take care of you so you won't get lonely. Just go to sleep ok, and everything will be better in the morning."  
Lilly wiped away her tears and nodded. Her heart hurt terribly, but she swallowed the news and tried to sleep. Dib crawled into bed, looking out his window. Tomorrow this game would end. The earth will win, and Zim will be gone.  
  
The sun rose over the tall buildings in the nearby city. A warm glow of reds and pinks painted the sky on the glorious morning. Shadows of the night were swept away by the sunlight on a clearing in the park. The sun irritated Zim's slumber, he slowly opened his eyes and checked his surroundings. "Oh, I fell asleep out here." Zim said tiredly to the sleeping robot curled next to him, not really caring if he heard or not. A hard reality filled him deep inside. Lilly was probably never coming back. Zim held his knees to his chin and wondered where fate had taken her. So many possibilities, yet he couldn't think of any one that didn't end with her living. A sick feeling roused though his insides. GIR rubbed his eyes and woke up, smiling at his master. Zim smiled back, then quickly turned back to the reflection in the water. GIR grabbed his...um toes and rocked back and forth thinking, well the best that he could. They had all day to look for Lilly, skool wouldn't start for a week or two. He liked this summer vacation thing, he only wished that he could enjoy the day off. He wondered what the Tallest would say if they ever found out. They'd probably laugh at him, or yell at him for not being able to do one thing right. He needed to show them that he was capable, that he was superior then the others. He picked himself up and continued their search.  
  
"Hey Gaz, I got this toy from...Japan. It's a game. You love games right! The object of the game is to... not let it die and keep it happy! You know, like them digi-pet things." Gaz looked down at the little Irken from the couch, then to her brother with the big nervous smile and sweat dripping down his head. She had been enjoying a nice bowl of cereal and her early morning session of video games. A simple pleasure like this didn't come around often...no wait it did. Dib just ruined it most of the time....Dib. She hadn't even changed from her piggy pj's yet and he was pulling this crap. "Dib...do you think I'm an idiot? Do I look stupid to you? Do I! Huh? That's not a toy from Japan. That thing looks like a little Zim. If it has to do with you or Zim...I don't want to deal with it. Just go away and leave me to my games before I hurt you." "Aw come on Gaz, just for today. She won't be trouble. Pleeeeeeeeeese." Dig got on his knees, he was really desperate this time. Why the hell did she have to be so nice. The little white blob squeaked," Dib has to go to school today...I can't go to skool. I need to stay here." Gaz looked at her brother. "I though you were done with your summer cla....Oh." Gaz smiled as she saw her brother cringe and send all sorts of interesting body language behind the little Irkens back to tell her to stop speaking. She didn't smile often but when she did it sent shivers down Dib's spine. In some sort of horribly twisted form of sweetness Gaz cooed to the little Irken. "What cha doing after Dib comes home from skool little..." "Lilly" The Irken baby said proudly. "He gonna take me home to Zimmy. I love Zimmy." Her sweet innocent smile stretched across her white face as far as it could go. Gaz's face mirrored the expression, but in twisted hellish perversion of the little alien's. "Really, is that what he's gonna do? You such a great guy Dib, even though you plan to destroy Zim. What did you say to me the other night, on how you were gonna set him on fire and roast marshmallows over his charred corpse?" She wished she had a camera to capture the faces Dib was making right now. "That you were gonna rip out his guts to make a nice warm bowl of ramen noodles?" "I NEVER SAID THAT!" Priceless...she didn't even know Dib's face could contort in such a way. "That's sick, even for you!" He screamed. She smiled. Lilly sat there scared and confused. She didn't want these people taking care of her anymore. Gaz grabbed Dib by the ear and brought it close to her lips. She whispered like death in his ear, "I'll look after her for today, but you better keep your promise to her or I will destroy you." "But Gaz..." he was about to say till her grip tightened dangerously. "You'll have your fun with Zim, get what you need to get from him but then you have to give her back. This is way to big for an idiot like you to handle." She let go of her death grip and pushed him to the ground. Brushing himself off and gathering what pride he could, he gave one last look at Lilly, then stomped out the door slamming it behind him. Lilly looked up at Gaz with tears of fear in her eyes, till Gaz smiled a not so evil smile...still evil, but not as much so... down at her. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you. Your not Dib. And he's not going to hurt Zim either. Their both to stupid to actually cause each other harm. Usually all they're pain is self-inflicted through being stupid. Just don't talk and we'll get along fine." Lilly nodded and watched her play her video games.  
  
Zim had returned home, just to see if she had somehow found her way back. He asked the computer if anyone, even GIR, had been seen walking around outside. It reported that nothing unusual had happed over the last two days other then GIR playing on the lawn the day before. Zim watched the surveillance video, recognizing Lilly in GIR's suit then watching her run off after a flying insect followed by the sounds of many crashing cars and agonizing screams. A little bubble of pride swelled in Zim among the worry, proud that his little Lilly had already started reeking havoc on the humans. After finding nothing else useful on the video he sighed and headed out to look for Lilly some more. He asked a few humans if they had seen his dog that he was usually seen with being that Lilly was wearing GIR's suit at the time and everyone knew the little green talking dog who hung out with raver girls and bought slushies. Some of them screamed at him because of the huge accident the day before. He hated asking humans for help, but he didn't really have a choice this time. No one had seen her since yesterday so he gave up asking. After another hour he found himself wandering in the park again. He sat by the pond where he had found her suit and sunk into the grass. He wondered why he cared about the little baby so much, it wasn't like him at all. He vowed if anyone had hurt her he was going to rip them limp from limp with his spider legs and he didn't care of anyone saw. It technically was against the rules, he needed to study the humans, teleport them to slavery. But killing them was supposed to be avoided if at all possible. He wanted Lilly back. "Well, well. If it isn't Zim come back from his little vacation. How was you vacation Zim? Bring any souvenirs that might...oh I don't know. Destroy the human race." 'No, I'll use my legs right now...stab one right through his big head and I won't have to hear that annoying voice anymore.' Zim thought. "I'm not in the mood Dib, go away if you want to keep your legs in tack." "But I've missed you and we have so much to catch up on. Besides, I have something you might want to...." Zim jumped up from the ground and turned to face his annoyance. "Look, I'm really really reeeeeeeeeeeeally not in the mood. I don't care what sort of neat toys that your dad bought you but I really have to go now. I suggest you don't stop me cuz it could cost you the use of you entire body." "Wait Zim really..." "Shut up!" "But" "Silence!" "Okay, fine but here. If you wanna do something about it, you know where to find me." Giggling evilly Dib dropped a piece of paper on the ground then turned and left Zim standing his ground. When the big headed human was at a safe enough distance (Zim didn't want him to see him have any interest in the paper he left behind.) Zim eyed the paper carefully, then picked it up...then crushed it in his trembling fist full of anger. The mechanical legs shot themselves from his pack without command and automatically charged for Dib who was still giggling to himself as he left the park. 


	9. Conflict

Lilly finally gathered enough courage to move up on the couch but still kept enough distance from the angry girl muttering at her video games. She watch as one by one piggies perished before the mighty wrath of Gaz, squealing in mortal terror as they met their grim fate before the man in the weird hat on the screen. At first Lilly found it disturbing, the endless killing of colorful pixels for a high score and bragging rights but Gaz didn't really have anyone to brag to or wouldn't really want one anyway. But after a while the whole thing seemed kinda fun.  
She really didn't want to play, she wanted to be in the game. She smiled sweetly as she imagined killing the piggies, watching them squeal in pain as they met their demise. This was also because Lilly was board out of her skull and it was the only thing keeping her occupied. She turned her head as she heard gigantic footsteps coming into the living room. One quick glance of the giant dressed in a white lab coat and goggles sent her hiding in between the couch cushions with her little butt sticking out at the professor.  
The monster stopped briefly to look at Lilly eyeing it with mild curiosity. "Gaz! What's that thing?" He asked, trying but failing at bonding. It really wasn't his thing. Even with her head stuck in between the cushions Lilly could pick that up.  
"Some toy Dib wants me to look after. It's from Japan." Gaz answered without even looking away from her piggy slaughter.  
"Neat! Anyway we're in desperate need of MILK! Go down the corner store and get some."  
"Can't it wait till later?" Gaz growled, still keeping her eyes on the screen.  
"It cannot! We need it now! I need it for an experiment involving the growth and germination of tiny..." But before the professor could finish Gaz saved and turned off her game as he still rambled on. She pocketed the money he left on the table and grabbed Lilly from her hiding spot, dragging her along the floor as Lilly stared at the monster in awe wondering what knowledge spewed out of the man's invisible mouth. Of course Gaz knew better, he just wanted milk for cereal and made some lame excuse of how milk would benefit mankind. Like she really cared if it did.  
  
Dib was amazed on how fast he found his face in the ground, then up staring at Zim's face. In the past, Dib had managed to piss Zim off pretty bad, but he never saw anger like this in Zim's face. It was pretty angry. Dib then wondered if what he did was a mistake, that he should of left it at Zim's front door and hid at home. Oh yeah, he was afraid the gnomes might destroy it like so many other "present's" he left for Zim. Still, even as Zim's mechanical legs pointed dangerously at his head he felt a sense pride that he got to Zim that badly. He let a smile come to his lips.  
Zim's grip tightened around his throat. Funny, he hadn't noticed that before his grip nearly cut off his breathing. Trying his best not to sound to pathetic with limited air to talk Dib dared to pull his face closer to Zim's and practically spat in his face, "You wouldn't want to do anything stupid, killing me means that you lose the location of your little friend." This time, the smile came to Zim's lips, something that Dib hadn't counted on.  
"Doesn't matter. There's always your family. I can think of ways to make them talk. Or I could just tear your house apart till I found her, and for my trouble I'll burn it to the ground after I'm done." Zim growled.  
Dib really didn't expected that. "Wait!" the confidence in his voice faltered, he even sounded more pathetic gasping for what little air Zim allowed. "They don't know anything. Lilly isn't even at my house! She's in a place where only I know and..."  
Zim had cut Dib off by tightening his grip to the point where the boy couldn't breath at all. All with a smile on his face. "Don't lie, it upsets me. I know it's your house. Only your house has those crappy Membrane merchandise littered all over it. You poked me in the eye with that stupid lamp in the picture. Remember?"  
Dib mentally cursed himself as he tried to wiggle free. He didn't remember Zim being this strong. He gasped as he felt Zim's hand loosen on his neck, thanking whatever god was out there at the time. Zim stood over him, no longer smiling but he seemed to have calmed down, all of his spider legs safely back in his pack, but still had a dangerous look about him. "You know, as much as I would really love to snap your puny human neck right now and rid myself of you forever and then your family, but it would raise to many questions. One thing I have to hand to your pitiful species is your forensic scientists. They would know that something was up when they found alien skin cells all over your broken neck but its something worth risking if need be. Now take me to Lilly before I change my mind...Dib." The last "Dib", was pronounced in such a way that it made worm infested dog crap sound more appetizing to look at then him.  
This time, Zim was not kidding. Zim would try as hard as he could to hide when Dib really pissed him off. Tried not to give him the satisfaction. This time, he messed up big time, especially with the stupid lamp...how could have he been so...stupid. Usually, he would of said something to himself like he'd pull it off the next time. There was no next time with this plan. In fact, he really didn't feel like crossing Zim ever again. But... it was his self-proclaimed duty to protect the earth, he would just have to wait a little to let Zim cool this one off.  
Apparently Zim wasn't happy of the speed that Dib was recovering. He grabbed the gasping boy by the neck and pulled him off the ground. Dib wobbled a bit but stabled his footing. For the first time, Dib looked up at Zim in fear. It was terrifying. He imagined the other humans, that one day they might all have to do the same if nothing was done about him. A new anger flared up inside. He couldn't let that happen. This new anger gave him new strength, new courage though later he called it stupidity.  
"You really care about her don't you?" Dib said, almost mockingly. Zim's eyes narrowed, making him even look more dangerous which at the time Dib though was impossible. "Well, we'll take very good care of her. Me and Gaz that is. I have to say that for an alien I really took a liking to her...I think I'll keep her, and raise her properly and teacher her to do good for mankind rather then destroying it. Like you would." Dib smiled defiantly and his voice reeked in disgusting pride. "We'll take real good care of Lilly I promise, but I can't trust her with the likes of you."  
Zim's actual body didn't flinch other then his twitching eye, but one solitary mechanical leg emerged and hung over Dib's head, positioning it's self to poke on nasty hole in Dib, perhaps one nasty hole through his body. This was about the time Dib realized that his bravery and courage were nothing more then stupidity.  
  
An/ sorry to all the Dib fans out there, I hurt him to much didn't I. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I just got back from Europe a week ago and my writing kinda suffered from the long break. But the next chapter should be up al least by Saturday if not tomorrow. 


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